“England and America are two countries separated by a common language.” – George Bernard Shaw
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
We Have Decisions to Make
Last week, not unexpectedly, I received my lay-off notice from work. There is major restructuring taking place, including the spin-off of the business I’m in. The new company will not have a presence in Colorado, so I along with maybe 100 others, are being “let go”. I’m not really angry or bitter. I saw it coming and it is a good business decision. And, Lynne and I have had a while to get used to the idea.
Still, after 26-1/2 years with the company, it brings a bit of a tear to my eye to be handed a packet of paper that ends it all.
So, we have some decisions to make about our future. And, exploring the alternatives, dreaming about the possibilities, investigating the options is really fun. One idea we have is to take a couple of years off from the rat race and live at our mountain cabin in Sand Creek Park. We are planning to build a garage to home the cars, an additional refrigerator, a freezer, and to provide lots of additional storage. We are adding satellite internet and TV. We are considering an addition of a bedroom to provide a bit more room in the one-room cabin. And, we are thinking about what we need to do to survive winters up there. It is all quite fun.
Of course, we’ll need a bit of money to live on, so we need to figure that out too. I’m starting up a small marketing consultling business that can provide both planning and implementation services. I’m pretty good with web stuff, so can provide services to host and manage small- to medium-sized businesses’ web sites. Lynne is great at creating advertisements, brochures, newsletters, etc. And, I’m also pretty good at marketing strategy and planning, having spent the last 26-1/2 years of my life doing that. So, maybe that will provide some income. Who knows?
In any case, we’ll keep you updated. And, if we do live up there, we will transform this web site into a daily blog of our activities, insights, observations, experiences, etc.
Posted under: Stuff You Gotta Know! • by Rick on 10/18/2005 at 08:01 AM
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Thursday, October 06, 2005
Novice Mycophagist #4 “Fall Harvest”
I really should have posted this article back in late August when the story takes place, but I am running behind.
During the third week in August I was very interested in finding a Matsutaki mushroom, which I’ve never seen or “smelled”, but I think should grow on our land. And, I am quite sure we have some King Boletes on the property, because I’m positive I collected one several years ago before I started paying attention to mushrooms on our land. So, with some advice on what to look for and where to look for it from Norm (of the Colorado Mycological Society), we scoured our 74 acres.
But, it has been a very dry year. We found some oyster mushrooms earlier, and really enjoyed them. We have not had the quantity and variety of mushrooms this year that we had last year.
Last year we found dozens and dozens of different varieties and they kept us busy throughout the Summer and Fall attempting idenfications and speculating on edibility. However, this year was pretty boring in comparison.
Still, I would not give up.
We decided one day to concentrate our search along Bart’s Creek, which was dry by then, but still the wettest part of the land. As Lynne and I followed the creek and scanned the forest floor we found a few little brown mushrooms (LBMs) and other unidentifiable mushrooms. At one point, we were almost on hands and knees scouring the ground when Lynne noticed something.
“Look, Rick” she said.
I, (very grumpy at this point), asked what was so damned interesting.
“Raspberries”, she said!
Sure enough, along the road where it crosses Bart’s Creek were a bunch of young raspberry bushes. In the more than 15 years we’ve owned the property, I’ve never seen a raspberry bush before! And, they were loaded with ripe, wild raspberries. We picked them all, and they did not make it back to the cabin. We ate them all on-the-spot.
So, mushroom hunting can be very frustrating and disappointing—especially in a very dry year. But, we still benefitted from the hunt with a tasty raspberries harvest.
Posted under: Mushroom Articles • by Rick on 10/06/2005 at 08:09 PM
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Need an Escape?
I’ve recently read two books by a young author (he wrote his first book just after graduating from high school), that are great books if you want to escape into a fantasy world of dragons, dwarfs, elves, and evil doers. The two books are Eragon and Eldest, the first three books in a trilogy (called Inheritance) by Christopher Paolini. Some have compared these books to the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. I struggle with that some. But, Paolini may be the Tolkien of the early 21st century. Not only are they great stories, but the second book, in particular, has a depth that I don’t expect from a 19 year-old author. His treatment of diversity, cultural awareness, tolerance, and religion is amazing.
These are big books, but easily read. And, if you need an escape, I highly recommend them! You will count the days until the third book of the trilogy is released!
Posted under: Books I've Enjoyed • by Rick on 10/06/2005 at 03:58 PM
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Tuesday, August 23, 2005
A Second Chance
We have a friend that we met through our passion for Bernese Mountain Dogs—Molly Bass. While she lives in Virginia, and we are in Colorado, we seldom see each other, and mostly correspond by email and instant messaging. A few years ago Molly was diagnosed with cancer. Miraculously, she has recovered through the use of a stem cell transplant. Please visit this link for a very short article on her story and how she met her donor.
Stem cell treatment really works. It has kept a vibrant young woman alive when confronted with a deadly cancer. Please support stem cell research.
Posted under: Stuff You Gotta Know! • by Rick on 08/23/2005 at 10:42 PM
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Sunday, August 14, 2005
The Shadow of the Wind
This book by Carlos Ruiz Zafon is a great book for lovers of books. It is part mystery, part history, part romance and even has some dry comedy sprinkled in. The book was originally published in Spanish and has been a big hit in Spanish speaking countries—particularly Spain, where the story takes place. It is about a boy whose father runs a bookstore, who becomes fascinated with an author after reading one of his books. He tries to find additional books by this author, but they all seem to have disappeared—many being burned. Who is one step in front of him burning books and attempting to destroy all the works of this author? And, why?
The book has rich characters that become very real. There are several stories going on at once, but they all intertwine in time. This book made me happy and it made me sad. It made me laugh, and it brought a lump to my throat.
The translation by Lucia Graves is extremely well done, although there are occasional idiosyncracies in some wording or phrasing. I highly recommend this book.
Posted under: Books I've Enjoyed • by Rick on 08/14/2005 at 01:22 PM
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